New Takahashi joins the fleet

[Mr Spock]

Nice scope, but, you really wanted a TOA-150... 😜

[JeremyS]

23 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Nice scope, but, you really wanted a TOA-150... 😜

my back couldn’t cope.

[MalcolmM]

Beautiful scope! Looking forward to reading about first light. 

Malcolm 

[Alan White]

Nice one, 
and let's face it always useful for shaving 😉 🤣

I await the first shave oops, light report.

[JeremyS]

38 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Nice one, 
and let's face it always useful for shaving 😉 🤣

I await the first shave oops, light report.

Good point, Alan. If it’s useless, it’s not a problem as I need a new shaving mirror.

And I could always use the handle on a nice refractor 

[Stu]

6 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Normal a tractor man

I had you down as maybe a Jaguar man Jeremy, but if tractors are your thing that’s cool, we get a lot of them down in Somerset so I’m getting to be quite an expert 😉

More seriously, lovely scope. I really enjoyed mine and would probably consider another in future, either 180 or 210. I put a Feathertouch on the back of mine, worked very well, coarse focusing with the primary then fine with the FT.

I look forward to hearing how you get on with it, plus of course your images in the ‘Show us your T**’ thread 😉👍

[JeremyS]

6 hours ago, HollyHound said:

Oh and I'm sure you noticed that with Mewlons, Takahashi are so generous... not only do you actually get a finder, but they also provide a 35mm dovetail mount fitting too 😮

Most unlike them to give anything away free with the scope 🤣

Don’t forget Tak also generously give you a free sticker and an Allen key 👍🏻😊

[Saganite]

7 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Something tells me your first planetary and lunar views will turn your brain to mush and you'll end up selling some refractors, I'm calling it!.

A strong possibility.....😂

After all it is a Tak, top notch shaving mirror !

Edited September 2, 2022 by Saganite

[F15Rules]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

my back couldn’t cope.

With a decent handle it could..🙃

Dave

[F15Rules]

3 hours ago, Cleetus said:

What I don't want to happen is to wait a few months, order a Mewlon, only to be told there's a year wait. And then we now have shorter days and Jupiter and Saturn becoming favourable. Think I'll have to sleep on it and decide during the next day or so.  Is there an emoji for someone in a quandry?

Yep..

Dave

[JeremyS]

This rarely happens: clear skies on first night of having a new scope.

Melanie has been sitting outside on the AZ100. Dusk now. First light on Altair. Collimation is very close as is alignment of the finder. Looking good, but it’s going to some getting used to those diffraction spikes.

started out with the Panoptic 35. Then tried the Apollo 11. 
 

Now just need a bit darker for Saturn.

 

[HollyHound]

55 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

This rarely happens: clear skies on first night of having a new scope.

Melanie has been sitting outside on the AZ100. Dusk now. First light on Altair. Collimation is very close as is alignment of the finder. Looking good, but it’s going to some getting used to those diffraction spikes.

started out with the Panoptic 35. Then tried the Apollo 11. 
 

Now just need a bit darker for Saturn.

 

Very lucky indeed... loads of cloud here, although I managed a very quick test of the IS 15x50 on the moon a few stars (through the clouds)... let's just say "gamechanger", without wanting to hijack this thread from the beautiful Melanie 😁

Can't recall if the M210 is three or four vane spider (EDIT: just checked photo, it's four)... the M180 is three and so you end up with six spikes, but each is a lot fainter than the four you get normally 🤔

Good luck with Saturn 🤞

Edited September 2, 2022 by HollyHound

[HollyHound]

Oh and the end cap, makes a very fine hat... something vaguely "nautical" about it.... or is that just me 🤣

[JeremyS]

2 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Oh and the end cap, makes a very fine hat... something vaguely "nautical" about it.... or is that just me 🤣

Funny you should say that. It’s a bit bog on me, though.

I had a chum who regularly wore his Mewlon 180 cover as a hat, Tommy Cooper like, when observing. That was when I first experienced those inky black backgrounds the M180 gives.

[neil phillips]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

This rarely happens: clear skies on first night of having a new scope.

Melanie has been sitting outside on the AZ100. Dusk now. First light on Altair. Collimation is very close as is alignment of the finder. Looking good, but it’s going to some getting used to those diffraction spikes.

started out with the Panoptic 35. Then tried the Apollo 11. 
 

Now just need a bit darker for Saturn.

 

Looking good. Congrats Jeremy.

[HollyHound]

22 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Funny you should say that. It’s a bit bog on me, though.

I had a chum who regularly wore his Mewlon 180 cover as a hat, Tommy Cooper like, when observing.

I might have also done that, but now way I will admit to it on public forum 😁

[Sunshine]

Regarding the diffraction spikes, with my dob I found them to be pleasurable especially on stars like Arcturus with its golden colour, you'll soon come to enjoy them.

Also, I have read reviews of the melon where users say it has to be pretty much bang on collimation to really see their potential, they may be intolerant of any slight misalignment 

but that will be left for you to judge.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Sunshine

[JeremyS]

12 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Regarding the diffraction spikes, with my dob I found them to be pleasurable especially on stars like Arcturus with its golden colour, you'll soon come to enjoy them.

Also, I have read reviews of the melon where users say it has to be pretty much bang on collimation to really see their potential, they may be intolerant of any slight misalignment 

but that will be left for you to judge.

Yes ppl say it’s a bit like a sports car that needs to be kept finely tuned. Though they also say that it does hold collimation well.

Time will tell how I get on with it.

[JeremyS]

Was clouded out before Saturn was sufficiently high.

Looked at few objects to get the hang of it. The most impressive was M13. With the Apollo 11 (x220) the glob filled much of the field and was scattered all over with lovely pinpoint stars, even with direct vision. M57 was a lovely green with a nice hole in the middle.

[Sunshine]

54 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Was clouded out before Saturn was sufficiently high.

Looked at few objects to get the hang of it. The most impressive was M13. With the Apollo 11 (x220) the glob filled much of the field and was scattered all over with lovely pinpoint stars, even with direct vision. M57 was a lovely green with a nice hole in the middle.

Too bad for Saturn but your description of M13 and M57 sound yummy, pinpoint stars are a good sign!

[Deadlake]

Very nice scope.

Interested in how you find aclimination cpmared with the C11 you have. To get APO like views thermal currents need to be minimised, apparently insulation on an SCT does not cut it, so the open tube of the Mewlon is best and no mirror flop.

Also how do you find BV usage, focus range makes this a little harder then the C11.

Edited September 3, 2022 by Deadlake

[MalcolmM]

8 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Was clouded out before Saturn was sufficiently high.

Looked at few objects to get the hang of it. The most impressive was M13. With the Apollo 11 (x220) the glob filled much of the field and was scattered all over with lovely pinpoint stars, even with direct vision. M57 was a lovely green with a nice hole in the middle.

Sounds wonderful! I thought I was seeing a hint of green in M57 the other night but thought it was probably imagined. But from your description, even though you've more aperture, maybe I was seeing a hint of colour. Can't wait to try again, though forecast is looking poor for another week at least

Malcolm 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stu]

17 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

so the open tube of the Mewlon is best and no mirror flop.

They do still take a while to cool down, despite the open tube design, and can also have mirror flop. Interested to know how Jeremy finds his as I imagine there may be some variability in this. That’s why I fitted an FT.

As for collimation, the adjustment is really tight and should be kept that way so it does not shift. The spider canes are fairly thick but that means they are solid and stay put.

[Mr Spock]

The only negative is those thick vanes. Somewhat over engineered. My 12" has regular thin vanes. They work ok and I can't say I've seen any diffraction spikes worth noting.

Just think of it being like the JWST and you'll be fine 👍

[JeremyS]

44 minutes ago, Stu said:

They do still take a while to cool down, despite the open tube design, and can also have mirror flop. Interested to know how Jeremy finds his as I imagine there may be some variability in this. That’s why I fitted an FT.

As for collimation, the adjustment is really tight and should be kept that way so it does not shift. The spider canes are fairly thick but that means they are solid and stay put.

There is small shift on focus, but it’s not bad at all. Similar to my C9.25